


set on record

by thornapple (survivalinstinctvalkyria)



Series: ESO Round 3 Entries [1]
Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Eso entry, I still don't know how I want to characterize Keito's brother, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-31 15:10:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20117122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/survivalinstinctvalkyria/pseuds/thornapple
Summary: "Mom sent this set of old home videos with me to college, and I finally got around to getting them on a flash drive. I got some help from some of the tech majors, but don't tell Keito, I want him to be impressed, y'know?"Both of them pretend to ignore the fact that Keito's immediate assumption would be that Hotaru got help."Anyway, I was going through them, and I noticed that you're in a lot of these. Thought you'd want to see them."//ESO Round 3 EntryDay 1: Memories and Recordings





	set on record

**Author's Note:**

> Not edited nor formatted because I'm tired.
> 
> There's a lot of ?? in my head right now, I'm really tired
> 
> The second video Hotaru and Eichi watch is inspired by a conversation I had with some mutuals a few months ago

Silence in the hospital has always been unnerving. No one could ever be sure if the patient was entering their final rest, or simply taking a nap, and even Eichi himself felt a little unsure as the rhythmic beeps of his heart rate monitor slowed to a snail's pace.

Right now it's one of those times. His heart rate crawls at a pace it's become comfortable with after a few hours of Eichi being confined to the hospital bed. He's too distracted to read or do paperwork (but Keito would lecture him for that, so at least he's saving himself the headache), so he simply lies there and looks out the window.

There's a charm in the mundane routines of those walking along the sidewalk - to Eichi, the normality of it feels almost as foreign as a banquet to a starving child. He recognizes some of the pedestrians, mostly by vague descriptors like the color of their hair or the manner of their gait.

One pedestrian always stands out to him, though, one with a tuft of dark green hair that always becomes slightly undone as he hurries down the sidewalk. Today he notices a tuft of green hair, yes, but it walks slower, more relaxed, with none of the urgency that someone approaching a hospital should have.

He allows himself to be disappointed, because,  _ yes,  _ he misses Keito, even if it's only been a few hours since he last talked with him. Keito's always had more interesting things to say to him than the nurses who shower him with recycled praise.

Eichi dips his head back against his pillow - mid-way between firm and soft, completely unlike Keito, whose pillow is essentially an empty pillowcase (at first, he'd been disgruntled about this, until Keito had begun using Eichi's chest and thighs as a pillow;  _ that  _ had been agreeable) - and allows his thoughts to drift to the soft kisses Keito peppers over his face whenever Eichi is on the verge of sleep.

Imaginary Keito materializes in the room, dipping the bed with his imaginary weight and casting an imaginary shadow over Eichi as he leans over the blonde. His first move to go for the skin under Eichi's ear, then move to his jaw, his cheek, a facsimile of the affection that Eichi had grown addicted to.

By the time his room's intercom announces that he has a visitor and subsequently snaps him out of his dreaming,  _ Imaginary Keito _ is already pushing his shirt aside to lay a kiss over his heart.

"Come in."

That lovely shade of green graces his vision and gives him a bit of hope until he realizes that Yumenosaki still has classes going on around this time.

"Hey, Eichi-kun."

Ah, that's the voice of Hotaru Hasumi, Keito's older brother. It's surprising to see him here - Eichi admittedly only cared about Keito as a child, so he isn't that close with Hotaru. He wasn't even aware that Hotaru was in town.

"Good afternoon, Hotaru-san. Are classes out for you?"

Hotaru winces, dropping his backpack onto one of the guest chairs in Eichi's room. "Just for a bit. I got off the train like an hour ago, I'm  _ exhausted _ ."

Eichi laughs lightly, wondering how Keito and his brother can seem so different and so alike all at the same time. "I'm afraid I can't offer you much hospitality from this bed, but if there's anything you need, I can request it from the nurses."

"Nah, I'm good," Hotaru dismisses with a wave of his hand. He fumbles through his back for a minute, retrieving his laptop and a penguin-shaped flash drive. Both items are deposited on Eichi's bedside table as Hotaru pulls up a seat to sit next to Eichi.

When Hotaru ruffles his hair with an aggressive vigor, Eichi finds another point of comparison and contrast between them. Where Keito firmly pats the head of his companion with a steady rhythm that always manages to calm Eichi down, Hotaru is wildly aggressive, as if the level to which he can muss up Eichi's hair is a sure sign of how pleased he is with him.

"You're a good kid, Eichi-kun. I bet you're doing a good job taking care of Keito."

"I feel he's been taking care of me, like always. I doubt he'd even let me take care of him."

"He's just shy, you know. According to Mom, he's been spending less late nights at the student council office, and more with you in his room-"

_ "-Studying-"  _ Eichi interjects, because his lack of shame around Keito or his classmates doesn't extend to his boyfriend's family. It's not like he actually needs to be ashamed, they usually just cuddle, but the implications embarrass him nonetheless.

(He feels a little less embarrassed and a little more amused when he wonders if Hotaru is planning to have this same conversation with Keito himself.)

"Yes,  _ studying _ ," Hotaru repeats back with a knowing grin. "He's been less overworked because of it. Thanks for that, the kid's such a hardass, especially on himself."

Eichi knows all too well.

"Well, I've done my share of embarrassing you, so lemme show you what I actually came here to show you."

He opens his laptop, typing in an inanely long password that acts as yet another reminder that he is indeed Keito's brother. Plugging in the laptop, Hotaru clicks around for a few seconds, and then turns the screen to Eichi.

"Mom sent this set of old home videos with me to college, and I finally got around to getting them on a flash drive. I got some help from some of the tech majors, but don't tell Keito, I want him to be impressed, y'know?"

Both of them pretend to ignore the fact that Keito's immediate assumption would be that Hotaru got help.

"Anyway, I was going through them, and I noticed that you're in a lot of these. Thought you'd want to see them."

Scrolling through the list of videos on the screen, Hotaru lands on one midway, assuring Eichi, "This one's really cute."

After a short load, there's an abrupt cut from the black screen to stairs of the Hasumi family's temple. Keito, aged seven, stands next to Hotaru, aged ten, who's rambling about some TV show to the background. There's a distant scream of "Keito-kun!" behind the camera, before a pint-sized Eichi bounds into the frame and into Keito's arms. Keito seems happy to hug him in greeting, until he loses balance from the sudden momentum of Eichi's body. Before they can topple down the stairs as a single, yelping entity, Hotaru grabs the back of Keito's shirt to steady him and allow Eichi to detach himself from his friend, all the while keeping his eyes on the camera.

"Is your intention to suddenly win over Keito's undying respect?" Eichi quips lightly through a fond smile. Keito had been so eager to welcome Eichi into his arms back then, still possessing that childhood naivety that allowed him to make such casual contact with someone he'd end up acting almost subservient to.

"Maybe," Hotaru admits, lips quirked into an awkward grin. The ring finger poised over the right arrow button presses down a few passes, skipping past around six videos, each with a thumbnail that sparks the locked away memories hidden in the recesses of Eichi's mind.

"Here's a funny one."

Little Eichi is lying in front of Keito, who has both his arms wrapped around his friend. Behind them, a small fort has been built out of pillows and blankets, a moderately sized stuffed cat propped up next to it. If Eichi remembers correctly, he and Keito are playing House, repeating that same dramatization of Eichi's death that they always did for fun.

_ "Take care of our children, Keito," _ Eichi pants out with a faux level of exigency in his tone.

_ "I… will," _ Keito replies, clutching Eichi's hand with one of his own. Even though it's obviously for play, he looks genuinely distraught, a look that tugs at Eichi's heartstrings a little.

Keito has always been good with death, he'd grown up surrounded by it, but he was still a boy. Constantly being confronted with the reality that his best friend was (probably) going to die soon had made it so that even if he was outwardly good at handling it, even the slightest implications of Eichis life finally ending sunk deep into his skin.

There's a noise similar to  _ guh, _ from Eichi, before his head drops, limp and supposedly lifeless on Keito's lap.

Keito pretends to be sorrowful, and it works, for a moment, because Eichi can't help but pity him. Then, little Eichi's body heaves, earning a scowl from Keito.

_ "You suck at holding your breath." _

Behind the camera, a maid wheezes. Both Keito and Eichi turn to look at her with furrowed brows, before Keito pushes Eichi off him and huffs, face bright red.

"I'm so glad that your family gave us all the videos of you two together, these are priceless, reminds me of when I figured out you two played House together. When I found out, I immediately started teasing him for it.  _ You're preparing for when you two get married for real, huh? _ and all that. He hated it, it embarrassed him so much," Hotaru muses over a laugh.

"Did he not want to play after that?"

It's a simple question, or should be, but Eichi's worrying his lips between his teeth, because he hates that thought. That thought of  _ I'm forcing Keito into things again _ that is the stem of almost all his (rare) moments of hesitation with his boyfriend.

"Oh, God no. He had the  _ biggest  _ crush on you at the time, you know? But he was always so insecure about that… I bet he thought that playing House was the only way he'd get to 'experience' those kinds of things with you."

"He was an idiot," Eichi says, not finding the will to be embarrassed over how disgustingly domestic his fond smile is.

"He's still an idiot, it's just that now he's  _ your  _ idiot."

"I can't argue with that."

They both laugh as Hotaru shuffles through videos absentmindedly. Eichi's content to sit there and watch until one picture catches his eye.

"Can you go back two?"

"Sure."

Unlike all the other videos, which had been recorded at each other's houses, this one is in Eichi's hospital room. They're maybe ten years old, but the frailty of Eichi's figure in the thumbnail suggests that he's even younger.

Without asking, Hotaru hits play, and the scene is brought to life. Keito is holding Eichi's hand in his own, gently clasping it within his palms as lectures relentlessly. The contrast doesn't fail to spark that little flame inside Eichi that has always been weak to the two commingling traits.

_ "Keito," _ little Eichi groans, cutting off Keito's lecture easily despite how weak his presence is. It's almost comical how Keito immediately shuts up, and the frustration he holds turns to concern.

_ "Hm?" _

_ "Story… please." _

And little Keito just nods, looking so pained - somehow even more pained than his friend - that he can't even find the words to say.

Instead, he begins a story, voice a bit too weak to be considered good for storytelling, but little Eichi still looks enamoured with him.

"I'd almost forgotten about this," Hotaru says, eyes glued to the screen. "I originally wanted to record it because I thought it was funny, but this happened, and I just kept recording."

"I'm glad. Maybe this will be a reminder for Keito that he's not as evil as he seems to think he is."

Speak of the devil, there's a familiar knock at the door. Eichi doesn't even bother to invite him in - not the he gets the chance to, because Keito's already pushing the door open, a rant bubbling out of his throat.

When he notices his brother seated next to Eichi, he cuts himself off mid sentence.

"Don't you have classes?"

"Not at this moment. It shouldn't make a difference, anyhow, aren't you happy to see your big bro?"

"Of course it makes a difference, you'll be a bad influence on Eichi. Look, you've already messed up his hair." Keito, ever the perfectionist, drops his bag by the door and moves to straighten out Eichi's hair.

"I'm not being a bad influence! I just came to show him some home videos that mom scrounged up, that's all. Here, I'll go wait outside if you wanna watch them alone."

He doesn't wait for answer already standing and stepping past his brother, patting his shoulder on the way.

Keito is hesitant to crawl into bed with Eichi, hitting  _ reset  _ on the video as he does so. He watches in silence, face unchanging, but Eichi knows better than to think he's unbothered. The hand subtlety reaching to grab Eichi's doesn't go unnoticed.

Eichi squeezes it, and Keito squeezes back.

"You always did take care of me, hm?"

"Someone had to," Keito replies, trying to sound aloof. He fails, badly.

"Don't be embarrassed, Keito. I'll always be grateful to you, you know. Even if all these recordings disappeared, it'd make no difference."

The hand wrapped around Eichi's tenses, then shifts to intertwine their fingers.

"I'll be taking care of you for the rest of our lives, there's no way you'd forget even with the recordings."

"Are you flirting with me?"

"I'm your boyfriend, leave me alone."

When Keito tries to lean away, Eichi wraps his free arm around him to trap him, albeit a bit awkwardly. With his face squished against Keito's right shoulder, he whines, "Don't be so cold."

"No." Keito's pushing his face into a scowl, but the corner of his lip twitches, now clicking through the list of videos before him.

"Fine, be that way. And just so you know, the whole 'I don't need a recording to remember it' also applies to all the times we played House together."

In one deft motion, Keito pushes Eichi off him, then grabs one of the pillows and shoves it against his friend's face.

"...I'm glad we got these recordings," Keito says over a smile that Eichi almost misses what with the pillow pressed against his face.

"Ashk Ho'ru to gi'em to you," Eichi slurs against the pillow, before leaning away and repeating himself. "Ask Hotaru-san to give them to you."

"Sure."

"And, Keito…"

"Yes?"

"Thank you for taking care of me."

There's no camera to catch Keito's warm smile, but it's still burned into Eichi's memories. Just like all the other times Keito had taken care of him with no one to watch, it's captured in the film that occupies that back of Eichi's mind, humming with that familiar pulse of security. 

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah I didn't like this but I posted it anyway


End file.
